Speakers-Adult – SWAAC ELSO

ADULT TRACK SPEAKERS

Dr. Darryl Abrams

Associate Professor of Medicine New York - Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Darryl Abrams is an Associate Professor of Medicine, medical intensivist and medical ECMO attending at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Dr. Abrams received his undergraduate degree from Brown University, his medical degree from SUNY Stony Brook School of Medicine, and was a resident, chief resident, and pulmonary/critical care fellow at NYP/Columbia. He is currently the Associate Medical Director and Director of Research for the Medical ECMO Program within the Center for Acute Respiratory Failure at NYP/Columbia. Dr. Abrams’ research has focused on ECLS for acute and chronic respiratory failure and pulmonary hypertension, with particular interests in early mobilization during extracorporeal support, optimization of invasive mechanical ventilation for ARDS during ECLS, and the ethical implications of increasingly sophisticated life-sustaining technologies.

Dr. Huda Al-Foudri

Consultant Anaesthetist and Head of the Department of Anaesthesia, Critical Care Pain Management Adan Hospital, Kuwait

Dr. Al-Foudri graduated from Leeds medical School in 1998. She completed anaesthetic and intensive care training in South East
Scotland School of anaethesia and Welsh School of Anaesthesia during which obtained the FCARCSI from Dublin in 2007. She also
obtained CCT in anaesthesia from the RCOA/ UK in December 2011.
She has a great passion for medical education and particularly medical simulation. She established a number of training courses locally
including ELSO endorsed ECMO comprehensive simulation course as well as organizing and running multiple training courses and
workshops in the field of anaesthesia and critical care with particular focus on safety and quality of care.
Positions:
Head of Kuwait Council of Anaesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Management since September 2022.
Consultant and Head of Department of Anaesthesia, Critical Care, and Pain Management. Al-Adan Hospital. MOH. Kuwait (Since
August 2014).
Program Director of AL-Adan Hospital ECLS Centre. MOH. Kuwait (registered with ELSO since 2017)
Member at Large and Chair of Education, Communication and simulation Sub-Committee. SWAACELSO Steering Group.
Current President of Soutrh West Asia and Africa Chapter of the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (SWAAC ELSO)
AHA Training Centre Faculty (TCF), instructor and Course Director for the ACLS discipline. AHA Training Centre. EMS Sabhan.
MOH. Kuwait
National Surveyor for the National Hospital Accreditation Program. MOH. Kuwait
Past Deputy Head of the National ECMO Committee at the Ministry of health. Kuwait

Dr. Mirko Belliato

Director of the Second Anesthesia Department & Cardiothoracic ICU President of EUROELSO Foundation IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Italy

Mirko Belliato is Director of the 2nd Anesthesia and of the Cardiothoracic ICU of Foundation IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo of Pavia Italy, Adjunct Professor of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care at the Perfusionist School of the University of Pavia, Italy. In 2008, Dr. Belliato became formally involved in the initiation of the ECMO project at the Foundation IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo. Since 2009, he has been part of the ECMO team for all types of extracorporeal support and in 2014, he was conferred the “High Specialty” position as leader of the ECMO respiratory support team. From September 2017 to June 2020, he was the chief of the Advanced Respiratory Intensive Care Unit with ECMO capability, at Foundation IRCCS Policlinic San Matteo of Pavia, Italy. On January 2023 obtained a PhD degree with the topic “ECMO for respiratory failure” at the Heart & Vascular Centre Maastricht University Medical Centre (MUMC+) and Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht (CARIM), University of Limburg (Maastricht, The Netherland). In 2016, he was appointed as leader of the EuroELSO workgroup for “Innovation on ECMO and ECLS”. In the 2019 he is elected as member of the Steering Committee of EuroELSO and

Dr. Saleh Fares Al-Ali

President International Federation for Emergency Medicine (IFEM), UAE

Dr. Fares Al-Ali is the first Canadian and American board-certified emergency physician from the United Arab Emirates. He completed the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Emergency Medicine Residency Program at McGill University in Montreal, Canada (2002-2007). In 2008, he completed a fellowship in EMS at the University of Toronto in Canada, followed by a Disaster Medicine Fellowship at BIDMC in Boston, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, as Harvard’s first Disaster Medicine fellow and as co-founder of the program (2009). In May 2011, he obtained his MPH from Johns Hopkins University and later his DrPH in Health Care Management and Leadership from the same institution (May 2021).
Dr. Fares Al-Ali is the former Head of the Emergency Department and former Program Director at Zayed Military Hospital, with extensive military medicine experience, including operational and civil-military deployments. He is the founder and former chairman of the Trauma System Initiative of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the founder and past president of the Emirates Society of Emergency Medicine (ESEM). Dr. Fares Al-Ali spearheaded key initiatives, including the first official Trauma Registry in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, the Abu Dhabi STEMI network involving various stakeholders, and the approval of the UAE “Good Samaritan Law,” the first of its kind in an Arab country. He led the ESEM Conference to become the largest Emergency Medicine Conference in the MENA region and successfully hosted ICEM 2021 in the region, with over 2,500 delegates.
He also served as Executive Director of the Center for Emergency Preparedness and Response (CEPAR) at the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, where he developed a new integrated model of emergency care (the Abu Dhabi Health Emergency Management – HEM Model). Dr. Fares Al-Ali has contributed to several international textbooks and peer-reviewed articles in the fields of Emergency Medicine, EMS, and Disaster Medicine and has presented at numerous conferences both regionally and internationally.

Prof. Roberto Lurosso

Surgeon - Cardiothoracic Cardio-Thoracic Surgery Department Heart & Vascular Centre Maastricht University Medical Centre, The Netherlands

To be updated soon

Dr. Eddy Fan

Associate Professor, Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto Staff Intensivist, University Health Network/ Mount Sinai Hospital, Canada

Eddy Fan is a Professor in the Interdepartmental Division of Critical Care Medicine and the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto and a Staff Intensivist at the University Health Network/Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr. Fan received his undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto, his medical degree from the University of Western Ontario and a PhD in Clinical Investigation from Johns Hopkins University. He is currently the Medical Director of the Extracorporeal Life Support Program at the Toronto General Hospital. Dr. Fan’s research has focused on advanced life support for acute respiratory failure and patient outcomes from critical illness.

Dr. Hassan Alnuaimat

Staff Physician & Director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Program Cleveland Clinic, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Dr. Hassan Alnuaimat is a Consultant Staff Physician who is specialized in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. He is the Director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Program at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.
Prior to joining Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Dr. Alnuaimat was a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, USA.
Dr. Alnuaimat completed medical school at the University of Jordan School of Medicine in Amman Jordan and completed residency in Internal Medicine and Pulmonary Critical Care Fellowship at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.
Dr. Alnuaimat has advanced specialization in Pulmonary Hypertension, Lung Transplantation and ECMO support. He was the founder and Director of the PHA comprehensive care center for Pulmonary Hypertension Program at the University of Florida. He was a leader in the 5th highest volume lung transplant program in the United States. Dr. Alnuaimat was the Director of the Respiratory ECMO Program.
Dr. Alnuaimat is a well accomplished researcher. He has authored numerous research articles in leading peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Alnuaimat has lectured at, and his research work was presented in, numerous scientific meetings. He is an excellent clinical educator and has received numerous teaching awards.

Dr. Suresh Rao K G

Co-Director, Institute of Heart & lung transplantation and MCS MGM Healthcare, India

More than 30 yrs of experience in ECMO and other mechanical circulatory support services.
Managed more than 600 ECMOs both as bridge to recovery or bridge to transplantation and 650 heart and lung Transplantations.
Involved in academics and serving as prof emeritus at Sri Balaji Vidyapeet. Published more than 30 publications in National and international journals. Delivered more than 300 guest lectures in National and International Conferences.
Served as President of ECMO Society of India and as president of Indian Association of Cardiovascular and thoracic Anesthesilogy

Prof. John F Fraser

Founder and Director of the Critical Care Research Group at The Prince Charles Hospital and The University of Queensland, USA Director of the Intensive Care Unit at St Andrew’s War Memorial Hospital, USA

Professor John F Fraser MB ChB PhD FRCP(Glas) FFARCSI FCICM FELSO is Founder and Director of the Critical Care Research Group at The Prince Charles Hospital and The University of Queensland, Director of the Intensive Care Unit at St Andrew’s War Memorial Hospital, and President of the Asia Pacific Extracorporeal Life Support Organisation.

Established in 2004, the Critical Care Research Group (CCRG) is Australia’s largest multi-disciplinary critical care research facility. CCRG consists of more than eighty leading clinicians, engineers, scientists, statisticians, and support staff connected to all major international cardiothoracic hospitals. CCRG has seven purpose-built biology, engineering, and bio-fabrication laboratories, as well as the largest preclinical ICU in the southern hemisphere.

He has a strong successful record in founding translational research from inhalable epinephrine pens for anaphylaxis (https://demotucordis.co/) and co-founding with Dr. Daniel Timms ( the inventor) Bionic Hearts (https://bivacor.com/) . His group recently completed a 5 year body of work demonstrating new devices that could keep donor hearts alive form more than 10 hours, and this study subsequently led to human study with a 100% survival with hearts transplanted off a rig.

In January 2020, Fraser founded the COVID-19 Critical Care Consortium with colleagues A/Prof Gianluigi LiBassi and Dr Jacky Suen. The Consortium facilitates the systematic collection of aggregate data from COVID-19 ICU patients to assist ICU clinicians in deciding treatment pathways for their patients. The Consortium has collected more than 55 million datapoints from 470 hospitals in 67 countries creating the world’s most in-depth database of COVID-19 critically ill patients. The Journal of the American Medical Association has acknowledged the ‘quantum change’ the Consortium has made to data collection.

John has five professorships across major Australian universities, has published over 550 peer-reviewed publications; received more than AUD 80 million in competitive grants; been invited to deliver over 200 national and international lectures and co-wrote and edited the most comprehensive textbook on Mechanical Circulatory Support. In 2018, John was awarded the Australian Society of Medical Research Clinical Research Award.

Prof. Alain Combes

Professor of Intensive Care Medicine at Sorbonne Université, Paris Head of the ICU department at La Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Assistance Publique Hopitaux de Paris, France

Professor Alain Combes, MD, PhD is Professor of Intensive Care Medicine at Sorbonne Université, Paris, and head of the ICU department at La Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Assistance Publique Hopitaux de Paris, France.

Main research interests:
– Care of the critically ill cardiac patient (cardiogenic shock, acute myocardial infarction, cardiac arrest, complicated heart surgery and heart transplantation)
– Mechanical circulatory assistance and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation
– Rescue therapies for severe respiratory failure, including ECMO and ECCO2R
– Infections in critically patients, such as pulmonary infections in mechanically ventilated ICU patients and endocarditis.

Dr. José L. Díaz-Gómez

MD, MAS, NCC (UCNS), FASE, FCCM Integrated Hospital Care Institute (IHI) Chair Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, UAE

José L. Díaz-Gómez is the Section Chief, Cardiothoracic, Circulatory Support, and Transplant Critical Care, the Anesthesia/Critical Care Medicine Fellowship Program Director, and the Director of Critical Care Echocardiography at The Texas Heart Institute – Baylor St Luke’s Medical Center, Houston, Texas.
Dr. Díaz-Gómez completed his medical training at the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Colombia, and a post-graduate anesthesiology residency at Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. He then completed a critical care fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. He also pursued further training in cardiac anesthesia at Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. He is board-certified by the American Board of Anesthesiology, with added qualifications in neurocritical care (United Council of Neurological Specialties), and the National Board of Echocardiography (NBE) – Advanced Perioperative Transesophageal Echocardiography and Comprehensive Echocardiography.
Dr. Díaz-Gómez’s research contributions include over 65 peer-reviewed publications in critical care medicine and ultrasonography; an edited book in Critical Care Ultrasonography and pre-requisite Cardiac POCUS booklet; a dozen non-peer reviewed publications and a dozen book chapters. He currently co-leads the upcoming critical care ultrasonography guidelines within the society of Critical Care Medicine. And he serves as co-chair of a forthcoming POCUS Nomenclature Statement by the American Society of Echocardiography. Lastly, Dr. Díaz-Gómez is finalizing a Master’s in Healthcare Quality at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at John Hopkins University.

Dr. Ahmed Hegazy

Consultant, Critical Care Medicine University of Western Ontario, Canada King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

To be updated soon

Prof. Matthieu Schmidt

Professor of Intensive Care Medicine Sorbonne University, France

Matthieu Schmidt is a full professor in Intensive Care at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, Paris. Its medical ICU is considered one of the largest ECMO centers worldwide. His research interests span the fields of cardiogenic shock, mechanical circulatory assistance, rescue therapies for severe ARDS, including ECMO, and mechanical ventilation. He is the investigator for multiple ongoing studies, including randomized controlled trials in the ECMO field, and is the author of more than 270 scientific publications and numerous book chapters. He is an active member of the ECMOnet (international ECMO network), a member of the steering committee of the EuroELSO, and the past chair of the scientific committee of the EuroELSO.

Dr. Kiran Shekar

Senior Intensive Care Specialist, Director of Research in the Adult Intensive Care Service Prince Charles Hospital & Associate Professor Prince Charles Hospital Northside Clinical Unit, University of Queensland, Australia

Kiran Shekar is a Senior Intensive Care Specialist and Director of Research at the Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. He holds academic appointments as Professor at University of Queensland, Adjunct Professor at Queensland University of Technology and Associate Professor at Bond University, Gold Coast, Australia. Shekar is passionate about addressing the global variability in intensive care and extracorporeal life support (ECLS) outcomes through innovation, research, and education. His research interests include pathophysiology of cardiorespiratory failure, ECLS and mechanical circulatory support. His PhD work,” The ECMO PK Project” resulted in an advanced understanding of altered PK/PD on ECMO and provided doing guidance for commonly used antimicrobial and sedative drugs. His ongoing research program “The No Tube Project” aims to integrate less invasive respiratory supports with ECLS to provide more personalized respiratory support and to minimise the burden of invasive mechanical ventilation. Shekar is an active contributor to the Extracorporeal Life Support Organisation (ELSO) through his research and educational engagements. He is a member of the Asia-Pacific ELSO Education Committee and is the Course Director of an ELSO endorsed ECMO course. He is the research lead for ELSO Education Taskforce and as a member of the scientific committee of the International ECMO Network, he contributes to global collaborative research in ECMO.

Prof. Yaseen Arabi

MD, FCCP, FCCM, ATSF Chairman, Intensive Care Department Professor, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University Medical Director, Respiratory Services King Abdulaziz Medical City Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Yaseen Arabi, MD, FCCP, FCCM, ATSF
Chairman, Intensive Care Department, Medical Director, Respiratory Services, Professor, College of Medicine, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz Medical City Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Dr. Arabi is recognized leader in critical care research and in the area of randomized controlled trial sepsis, mechanical ventilation, Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERs CoV) research. He has lead multiple randomized controlled trials that were published in the leading medical journals. He has conducted the PREVENT trial (“Prophylaxis of Thromboembolism in Critically Ill Patients Using Combined Intermittent Pneumatic Compression and Pharmacologic Prophylaxis versus Pharmacologic Prophylaxis Alone: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial”), MIRACLE trial (“MERS-CoV Infection Treated with a Combination of Lopinavir/Ritonavir and Interferon Beta 1B: A Placebo-Controlled, Double-Blind Randomized”) PERMIT trial (The Impact of Permissive Underfeeding versus Target Enteral Feeding on Mortality and Morbidity in Adult Critically Ill Patients: a Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial”), all published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NJEM). He collaborated with the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society (ANZICS), and the Canadian Critical Care Trials Group (CCCTG) on multiple major controlled trials.

Dr. Arabi leadership has been recognized in multiple awards; including the Saudi Universities Excellence Award in Scientific Productivity per Web of Science Medical Sciences and Ministry of Health Pioneer Research Award (2019), Distinguished Scientist Award from Almarai (2017), Distinguished Scientist Award from Almarai Award for Innovation (2017), 2nd Annual Lifetime Achievement Award from the Saudi Critical Care Society (SCCS) (2013), Bary A. Shapiro Memorial Award for Excellence in Critical Care Management, Society of Critical Care Medicine, USA (2011).

He has published over 500 peer-reviewed journals and has cited more than 52,000 times with H index of 100 and I index of 336. He is currently the chair of the Saudi Critical Care Trials Group (SCCTG). He has been working on building capacity in critical care research through the conduction of the BASIC Research Course for Critical Care and the BASIC Research Coordination Course.

Dr. Ibrahim Fawzy

Chief, Medicine Critical Care Division ECMO Program Director, Deputy Medical Director Ambulance Service Hamad Medical Corporation Associate Professor Clinical Medicine Weill Cornell Medical College, Qatar

To be updated soon

Dr. Ramanathan K R

Adult Cardiac Intensivist at the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit (CTICU) National University Heart Center (NUHCS), Singapore

To be updated soon

Dr. Thomas Mueller

Consultant of Intensive Care Medicine and Pneumology University Medical Centre, Regensburg Germany

Prof. Dr. Thomas Müller is Consultant of Intensive Care Medicine and Pneumology at the University Hospital Regensburg (UKR), where he heads the Medical ICU since 2002. UKR is ELSO Centre of Excellence and one of Germany´s most active ECMO Centres with about 200 ECMO runs per year. He was one of the founding members of EuroELSO in 2011 and of ECMOnet. In 2015 he hosted the 4th International EuroELSO Congress in Regensburg. In 2019 he was bestowed an honorary fellowship of the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (FELSO). Since 2023, he is a Board member of ELSO.
His special professional interests include the treatment of severe acute lung failure and the management of patients post resuscitation. Since 1996 his department is engaged in the optimization of miniaturized ECMO devices in use for severe ARDS, circulatory failure and CO2 removal. A focus of research is set on a better understanding of complications of ECLS.

Dr. Marlice Van Dyk

Specialist Anaesthesiologist & Intensivist Netcare Unitas Hospital, South Africa

Currently practising as a Specialist Anaesthetist and Intensivist, Dr van
Dyk’s interests lie in Critical Care. This passion and determination in her
field have culminated in Dr van Dyk spearheading the establishment of the
ELSO accredited ECMO Centre at Netcare Unitas Hospital. As the director
of the ECMO Centre, Dr van Dyk runs numerous training sessions and
continues to strive for excellence in this field. Dr van Dyk is also the chairperson of ECMO SA.

Dr. Salman Pervaiz Butt

Chair SWAAC ELSO Workshops Interim Manager Perfusion Services and ECMO Specialist Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, UAE

Experienced healthcare professional with a 24-year career spanning public and private sectors. Expertise in Perfusion, clinical Research, medical devices, patient safety, hospital operations, and healthcare management. Holds an MSc in Translational Cardiovascular Medicine from the University of Bristol and an MBA in Healthcare Management from Birmingham City University. Prolific author, educator, speaker, motivator, and researcher, with numerous publications in prestigious peer-reviewed journals, dedicated to advancing healthcare knowledge and practices.

Prof. Antonio Pesenti

Emeritus Professor University of Milan, Italy

After the Medical Degree in 1976, he completed his fellowship at NIH, Section of Cardiac and Pulmonary Assist Devices in Bethesda under the leadership of Dr Theodor Kolobow, “the pioneer” of the extracorporeal respiratory support. In 1979, he took his Board Certificate in Anesthesiology and Intensive Care at the University of Milan. In 1992, he became Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care at University of Milan and then he was promoted to Full Professor at Milano-Bicocca University in 2001 and moved to University of Milan in 2015. He has served as Director of the post-graduate school of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care at Milano-Bicocca University (1999-2015) and Director of the School of Medicine at Milano-Bicocca University (2013-2015).
He has served as Chief of the Department of Anesthesia and intensive care since 1993 in Monza and after 2015 in Milan.
He retired in 2022 and was made a Professor Emeritus.

Prof. Robert Bartlett

Professor Emeritus, Division of Acute Care Surgery University of Michigan Medical Center, USA

To be updated soon

Dr. Abdulrahman Al Fares

Chair Department of Anesthesia Critical Care Medicine and Pain Medicine Director of Kuwait Extracorporeal Life Support Program Ministry Of Health, Kuwait

Dr. Al-Fares graduated from the University of Birmingham Medical School, UK in 2003, and then pursued training in Internal Medicine and Critical Care, where he obtained MRCP UK in 2011, followed by a residency in Internal medicine in McGill 2012, Critical Care at the University of Toronto in 2015 and obtained ABIM and FRCPC in Internal Medicine and Critical care in 2016 and 2017, respectively. He then pursued further training in Extracorporeal Life Support and Critical Care Echocardiography at the University of Toronto and obtain certification from the National Board of Echocardiography. He is currently the Chair of the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care Medicine and Pain Medicine and the Director of Kuwait Extracorporeal Life Support Program, Al-Amiri Hospital, Ministry of Health, Kuwait.

Aaron Thrush

Pulmonary Physical Therapy Specialist Cleveland Clinic, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Aaron Thrush is a critical care physical therapist at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, where he also serves as the Rehabilitation Education Specialist and a clinical researcher. He is board-certified as a cardiovascular and pulmonary physical therapy specialist by the American Board of Physical Therapy Specialties. Aaron is a Clinical Content Expert and Research and Evidence-Based Practice Chair for the Academy of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Physical Therapy in the United States. He earned a Doctor of Physical Therapy from Arcadia University, a Master of Public Health (Global Health concentration) from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Movement Science at Arcadia University (USA).”

Dr. Vivek Gupta

Consultant Cardiac Anaesthesia & Intensive Care ECMO Physician Dayanand Medical College & Hospital India

Dr Vivek Gupta is working as Consultant in department of Cardiac Anaesthesia & Intensive Care at Dayanand Medical College & Hospital, Hero DMC Heart Institute Ludhiana. He is having clinical experience of more than 25 years including anaesthesia administration and postoperative management in complex cardiac surgical procedures, cardiac intensive care management including advanced mechanical ventilation, haemodynamic monitoring and renal replacement therapies. He has been awarded cardiac anaesthesia fellowship and fellowship of Indian college of critical care medicine. He is Director ECMO program and has extensive experience of ECMO management. He is pioneer for use of ECMO in aluminium phosphide poisoning. He has more than 30 research publications including review articles. He has written more than 20 chapters in various critical care and ECMO books. He has delivered more than 100 lectures in various national and international conferences. He is teacher for fellowship course of cardiac anaesthesia, critical care courses and ECMO training courses. Presently he is President of ECMO society of India and Chairman, Research & Ethics Committee SWAAC ELSO (South West Asian African chapter of Extra Corporeal Life Support Organization). He is actively involved in developing Indian ECMO guidelines under ECMO society of India. He is editor for ISCCM ECMO CRRT Book, section editor for API text book of medicine 2016 and many more books of anaesthesia & critical care. He is faculty & core member of Indian Resuscitation Council Federation. His area of interest is quality, safety and innovation in health care.

Dr. Brahim Housni

Head of the Anesthesia and Intensive Care Department at CHU Mohammed VI-OUJDA Director of the Medical Simulation Training Center of the Oriental (CFMSO) Morroco

Higher education professor
Anesthesia-resuscitation, emergency medicine, pain and palliative care
Faculty of medicine and Pharmacy, Mohammed I-OUJDA University
Head of Anesthesia-resuscitation department
CHU Mohammed VI-OUJDA
Several scientific publications

Dr. Hussam Ghalib

Staff Physician in the Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute Cleveland Clinic, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Dr. Hussam Ghalib, MD, is a Staff Physician in the Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

Prior to joining Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Dr. Ghalib was at the University of California Los Angeles Medical Center, where he specialized in Cardiovascular Medicine, Advanced Cardiac Imaging and Advanced Heart Failure Management.

Dr. Ghalib received his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. He then served on faculty in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan Hospital for two years. He also completed a Cardiovascular Medicine fellowship at UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, California.

Dr. Ghalib resides in Abu Dhabi with his wife and son.

Dr. Nicholas Barrett

Consultant, critical care medicine Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation, United Kingdom

Dr Nicholas Barrett is a consultant in critical care medicine at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust who trained in both anaesthesia and intensive care medicine at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney Australia. He is Clinical Director for Respiratory and Critical Care at Guy’s and St Thomas’ and has particular interests in severe cardio-respiratory failure, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and extracorporeal CO2 removal (ECCO2R), including its provision in pregnancy. He is a specialist advisor to NICE and the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch. He is past-chair of EuroELSO, the organisation supporting the development of ECMO in Europe and provides advice to ECMO programmes around the world.

Dr. Ali Ait Hssain

Senior Consultant Intensivist Member of the ECMO Team Hamad General Hospital, Doha Qatar

Senior consultant intensivist and member of the ECMO Team at Hamad General Hospital, in Doha, Qatar.
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College.
Associate Professor at Hamad Bin Khalifa University
He received his medical degree and completed his residency of anesthesiology and critical care medicine in France.
In 2006, he served as assistant clinical professor in University d’Auvergne in Clermont Ferrand, France and worked for 9 years as consultant intensivist in medical ICU in Gabriel Montpied university Hospital, France. He was at the origin for the launch of the ECMO program in his center in 2007.
His specific ICU interests include Sepsis, nutrition, ECMO, simulation and medical innovation. He is involved in several multicenter trials as investigator in international and multicenter collaborative projects with academic institutions such as Weill Cornell Medicine College and Qatar University. He is author of more than 100 papers and book chapters. He is the actual lead for research at the medical intensive care unit.
He is the lead for the ECMO Simulation Team Of Doha (ECSiTeD) and at the origin of a new ECMO mannequin designed with his team for ECMO cannulation training that has been used in several countries.

Dr. Samira Al-Maraghi

Cardiovascular Perfusionist Heart Hospital, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) Qatar

Samira Al-Maraghi is a distinguished cardiovascular perfusionist with over two decades of expertise in the field. She currently serves as the Chief of Perfusion at the Heart Hospital, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) in Qatar. She holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Perfusion Science from the University of Surrey, London, and a Master of Management from McGill University, Canada. Samira is also a member of The Society of Clinical Perfusion Scientists of Great Britain and Ireland.
Throughout her career, Samira has played a pivotal role in advancing perfusion science in Qatar. She has been instrumental in leading the perfusion department at HMC and is credited with establishing the perfusion unit at Sidra Hospital & Research Center. Additionally, she has been a driving force in developing and implementing comprehensive education and training initiatives, related to ECMO workshops and simulations. Samira remains actively engaged in teaching and training both national and international ECMO candidates.
Renowned for her technical expertise, leadership, and unwavering commitment to clinical excellence, Samira continues to make significant contributions to the field of perfusion science.

Emad Hakami

Clinical Specialist King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Saudi Arabia

Emad Hakami is a Clinical Nurse Specialist specializing in Mechanical Circulatory Support, an ECMO Specialist, VAD Coordinator, and an ELSO Adult ECMO Practitioner at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He actively contributes to the advancement of the field through research and quality improvement projects.

Dr. Akram Mohamed Abdel-Bary Ahmed

Professor of Critical Care Cairo University, Egypt

Professor of critical care and director of ECMO unit, Cairo University. Consultant critical care, ECMO, and interventional cardiology., President of SWAAC ELSO 2021-2022. ECMO lead in Egypt started in 2014 till current. Designed one of a kind comprehensive dedicated ECMO unit which is the main service provider in Egypt located in Cairo university. Director of the ELSO endorsed comprehensive course in Cairo, Egypt.

Dr. Maria Paula Gomez

Director – Organ Transplant Expert, The National Center for Regulating Donation and Transplantation of Humans Organs and Tissues, Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP), UAE

Prof. Georg Auzinger

Consultant and Reader in Intensive Care Medicine King’s College London & Department Chair of Critical Care & Anaesthesia Cleveland Clinic, London, United Kingdom

Prof Georg Auzinger is the Chair of the Department of Critical Care at Cleveland Clinic London, a Consultant and Reader in Intensive Care Medicine with King’s College London and the former Clinical Director for Critical Care at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. He has 25 years experience of working as a Consultant in the NHS. He was the Lead Clinician for the Liver ICU from 2007 until 2015, when he became Clinical Director for Critical Care at King’s, a position he held until 2019 when joining Cleveland Clinic London. He was appointed Prof of Medicine at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine in 2021.
Dr Auzinger has a special interest in extracorporeal cardio-respiratory assist and Liver Failure. He set up the King’s ECMO service in 2012, which he continues to co-direct to date. King’s was awarded ELSO Platinum Centre of Excellence status twice in 2019 and 2023; the service has made pioneering contributions around ECMO support in Acute Liver Failure and Bridge to Liver Transplantation.

Dr. Mitesh Vallabh Badiwala

Surgical Director of Heart Transplant and Mechanical Circulatory Support Cleveland Clinic, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Dr. Mitesh V. Badiwala, MD, PhD, FRCSC is the Surgical Director of Heart Transplant and Mechanical Circulatory Support at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.
Dr. Badiwala was a Staff Cardiovascular Surgeon at Toronto General Hospital and Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of Toronto from 2014 to 2023. He served as the Surgical Director of Heart Transplantation and Fellowship Director for Cardiovascular Surgery.
Dr. Badiwala received his MD and PhD degrees from the University of Toronto. He also completed his residency in Cardiac Surgery at the University of Toronto. He completed a fellowship in Advanced Cardiac Surgery at Northwestern University as Chief Fellow, specializing in advanced valve repair, heart transplantation and mechanical circulatory support.

Dr. Fadi Hamed

Medical Director Lung transplant program Cleveland Clinic, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Dr. Fadi Hamed, MD, is the medical director of the Lung transplant program, and served as section Head in the Critical Care Institute at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.
Prior to joining Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Dr. Hamed worked as Associate Staff in the Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Cleveland Clinic.
Dr. Hamed is a Diplomate in Critical Care Medicine, Pulmonary Disease, and Internal Medicine through the American Board of Internal Medicine.
He is also a member of several organizations including the Society of Critical Care Medicine, American College of Chest Physicians, and the American Thoracic Society. His specialty interests include advanced lung disease, lung transplant and medical intensive care.
Dr. Hamed earned his medical degree from the University of Jordan in Amman. He completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, US, where he also served as a Chief Medical Resident for one year on completion of his residency training. He completed his fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, US.

Dr. Sultan Hassen Al Amri

Consultant Intensivist, Internal Medicine King Saud Medical City, Saudi Arabia

is a Consultant Intensivist and Internal medicine at King Saud Medical City. A graduate of King Saud University, Riyadh with a Bachelor’s Degree of Medicine and Surgery in 2002. Then he joined the Saudi board of internal medicine, which he completed on 2007 with honor degree, and he moved on to join the Saudi fellowship of Adult Critical Care Medicine that he completed on 2010. He also received his Clinical Fellowship in Adult Critical Care medicine from the University of Toronto, Canada; on 2012 and got his Clinical Fellowship in Cardiovascular Intensive Care and Transesophageal Echocardiography from Toronto General Hospital last 2012 in Toronto, Canada.
Currently, he is the head of the adult cardiac critical care scientific committee and head of adult critical care examination committee. He is a member of the Saudi ECLS chapter and a director of various specialized courses such as Critical Care Ultrasound Course and Mechanical Ventilation Course. He is also an Instructor for Rapid Response Course, Advanced Hemodynamic Course, ECMO course, Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy course, and Antibiotic Therapy course as well as Instructor in the Fundamentals of Critical Care Support (FCCS) Course.

Dr. Nazar Bukamal

Consultant Cardiothoracic Intensivist and Anesthesiologist Mohammed Bin Khalifa Specialist Cardiac Center, Bahrain

Prof. Carol Hodgson

Head of the Division - Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine Deputy Director of the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Research Centre Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

Professor Carol Hodgson is a clinical trialist with particular expertise in long-term outcomes after critical illness. She leads, as Director, Monash Partners Academic Health Science Centre which aims to ensure research is implemented and translated into healthcare to improve patient outcomes. She is Head of the Division of Clinical Trials and Cohort Studies in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, and Deputy Director of the Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Research Centre, Monash University. She is Chair-elect of the International ECMO Network. She has worked in ICU at Alfred Health for over 25 years where she is a Specialist Physiotherapist.

Gordan Samoukovic

Canada

I have graduated from Cairo University (Qasr Al Aini Medical School) and then completed my residency and cardiothoracic ICU and anesthesia for both pediatric and adult at Glasgow Royal Infirmary – Scotland.
I am a member and fellow of the Royal College of Anesthetist United Kingdom
Lead clinician and head of department of Cardiothoracic ICU and anesthesia at Mohammed Bin Khalifa Specialist Cardiac Center (MKCC) – Royal Medical Services
Lead clinician of ECMO services at MKCC the only ECMO center in Bahrain
International researcher joins many multicenter trials and co-authors.
Senior Lecturer at Arabian Gulf University (Medical School)
Head of Training at MKCC and holding leader positions at Crown Prince Center for Training and Medical Research.

Dr. Gennaro Martucci

Anesthesiologist, Critical Care Physician, Chief of Pediatric Anesthesia IRCCS-ISMETT (Istituto Mediterraneo per I Trapianti e Terapie ad alta specializzazione) UPMC, Italy

To be updated soon

Prof. Jan Belohlavek

Consultant in Cardiology and Critical Care, Dept. of Internal Medicine II, Cardiovascular Medicine, General University Hospital, Prague Czech Republic

To be updated soon

Prof. Daniel Brodie

Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Critical Care, Johns Hopkins Health System Professor of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, USA

Dr. Brodie is a Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is the Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Critical Care for the Johns Hopkins Health System. He is also the Chair of the Executive Committee of the International ECMO Network (ECMONET) research collaborative, and a member of the Board of Directors and the President-elect of the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO).

Dr. Mark Takashi Ogino

Neonatologist Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, USA

Dr. Mark Ogino is a pediatrician and neonatologist who received his medical education from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine. He completed his postgraduate training at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and further specialized in Neonatology and Pediatric Infectious Diseases (research) through fellowships at UCSD.
Having held positions at institutions like San Diego Rady Children’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children, and Nemours Children’s Health, Dr. Ogino is an attending neonatologist at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. His academic role includes a Clinical Professorship in Pediatrics at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University.
Since 1989, Dr. Ogino has been actively involved in the Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) community. He trained under Dr. Devn Cornish and opened ECMO programs in Hawaii and Delaware. He was the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO) Chair of Logistics and Education from 2009 to 2015, leading the development of the ELSO educational programs. Additionally, Dr. Ogino served as the President of ELSO from 2018 to 2020.
Dr. Ogino’s academic focus is enhancing clinical teams’ proficiency and delivering safe and high-quality extracorporeal life support care through innovative educational methods.

Dr. Pranay Oza

ECMO Co-Director & Intensivist, Riddhi Vinayak Multispecialty Hospital, Mumbai, India

• Pioneer in starting ECMO services in India & establishing an Outreach & mobile ECMO program in India
• Past President & Founder member – ECMO Society of India
• Secretary & Founder member – SWAACELSO
• Director ECMO India Foundation
• Director ECLS Bharat Pvt Ltd
• Member of Research Cell, ELSO
• I was a part of Transport work group for ELSO guidelines for Transport & Retrieval of Adult & paediatric patients with ECMO support.
• Publications –
o ECMO volume I (practical Manual) published in Nov 2010, (a first book on ECMO in India),
o 2nd Edition – 2018
o 3rd Edition – 2023
o Synopsis of ECMO booklet published in April 2011.
o ECMO volume II (theoretical manual) published in 2012
o Manual of ECMO published in 2013
o Various Papers presented on ECMO (40 +) – National & International
• Area of Interest – ECMO & Critical care
• Our centre received –
o Platinum Level ELSO Centre of Excellence for the year from 2021 – 2024
o GOLD Level ELSO Centre of Excellence for the year from 2018 – 2021